Consultation

The law that established FirstNet requires it to consult with Federal, State, tribal, and local public safety entities to ensure that the FirstNet network is designed to meet the needs of public safety across the country. State, tribal and local consultation will be a collaborative process, involving key stakeholders and leadership from each state and territory, and will incorporate enhancements and improvements as they develop.

FirstNet State Plans Consultation in 2017

FirstNet is focusing its 2017 consultation program around the successful development and delivery of State Plans. Our goal is to deliver and discuss State Plans that reflect the public safety priorities of each State and Territory for the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network. To achieve this, we will build on our consultation efforts through governance body meetings, SPOC team interaction, executive meetings and additional public safety meetings. We are designing these engagements with targeted outcomes in mind, including:

Validate who is important to the State Plan process in each state

Describe the State Plan delivery and review process in each state, including access considerations and web portal content

Affirm states’ priorities, such as business factors and public safety needs.

The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 created the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) as an independent authority within NTIA to provide emergency responders with the first nationwide, high-speed, broadband network dedicated to public safety.